Reflections on Four Years of Teaching With Technology - Lessons

This is the last post of a four part series on the one to one MacBook program my school has.  This post can stand alone, but if you are interested in more detail, read my other posts.

After four years of doing this, I do feel that there are some pieces of advice I could offer and lessons I've learned.  This is purely from a classroom teacher's point of view.  I'm sure administrators and tech people could offer different perspective, and I hope they will comment.

Don't Try to Learn Everything at Once - If you try to make every lesson filled with nothing but technology, you will lose your mind.  Sit down with your objectives and pick the ones that are either the easiest or the most important to incorporate your technology.  We committed to have one "golden nugget" per quarter.  That could be a project the kids could do or a lesson that we would have them collaborate with or a lesson we could flip.  If you do that each year (and it gets easier to think of them, so you increase your pace), you build your tech repertoire.

Don't Try to Reinvent the Wheel - Google is your friend.  If you search for lesson plans using technology on any topic, you will find many tools or kernels of ideas to use.  YouTube is your best friend.  Pick a topic - any topic - and you will find animations, dramatizations, examples.  There is a ton in science, but there are plenty for every other topic as well - even Latin.  I have been amazed by the clarity a video provides.  It takes me 15 minutes to explain the Doppler Effect, but when I show a 20 second video of stick figures and waves, I hear half the class go "Ohhhh."

Get an LMS - If there was one thing we were missing in our first year, it was a learning management system.  Not having a consistent way for students to turn in digital assignments leads to chaos.  Some students want to e-mail it to you (That'll fill your inbox) while others want to put it on a jump drive.  Some want to share it with you in a google doc.  This is a sure way to lose your mind.  We found drop box, hoping that would be a good method, but it is a mess when students forget to include their name (It's not like you can tell from their handwriting), or you have 45 assignments titled "science homework."  The first couple of months with an LMS are difficult because it adds to the learning curve, but it is worth it.  After the first year, every student knows exactly what to do when we say "Go to the Talon discussion board."

Cheer Each Other On - This was the best part of our endeavor.  Every teacher was in the same boat, all trying to row in the same direction.  We shared ideas, successes, failures, suggestions, encouragements, and prayers.  If you have some cynical people, share your successes with them.  Show them one super easy tool that you found.  Most people will come around with just a little encouragement.  If you are trying to do this on your own and it isn't a school wide thing, find another teacher that you can try it with.  If you can't even find that, go online.  There are twitter groups and teacher websites completely devoted to cheering you on in this adventure.  This is worth it.

Be Flexible and Have Backup Plans - The first time you use a new tool, something will happen.  You will have at least one kid who can't log on no matter what they do.  The video might not play on someone's computer even though it does on everyone else's.  There may be a student who tried to submit their assignment and it didn't go through for whatever reason.  You CANNOT anticipate all these problems, so be flexible.  For those issues you can anticipate, have a backup plan.  I have ended my instructions many times with "If that doesn't work, do this."  You will teach a little less content your first year because you will spend a fair amount of time troubleshooting.  That's okay; it gets better.  Trust me that you will never stop needing backup plans.

Keep the Reasons in Mind - You have decided to do this for a reason.  When things get a little nutty, remind yourself that this is important.  You are investing in your students' future.  You are teaching them life skills and modeling life long learning.  You are going to have some tough days, and the kids will see how you respond to them.